Description: Green summer needles begin turning gold in thefall. By winter, this plant is absolutelybrilliant gold. It was found in the WallowaMountains by Doug Wills of Sandy, OR during ahunting trip. He supposedly used an axe to dig it. This variety has proven to bedifficult to propagate - yellow and somevariegated conifers are typically moredifficult to graft. Some growers recommendusing Pinus contorta var. latifolia understockwhich eliminates winter burn. Chief Joseph(1840-1904) was the chief of the Wallow ValleyNez Perce tribe. He became famous in 1877 forleading a three and a half month defensive waragainst the US Army who was attempting toforcibly remove the Natives to a reservation inIdaho.